Welcome back to another installment of suggestions for beating writer’s block! Every self-published author has experienced it, or will someday. How crippling it becomes to your writing, though, depends on how you view it—and how you handle it.

Of course, what works for one writer won’t necessarily work for another, so these tips are like a buffet: try a bunch of things, and then come back for seconds on the things you liked!

In our first post, we discussed keeping things in perspective, having reasonable standards, and skipping the troublesome parts of your story for the sake of progressing forward. Let’s continue with today’s new set of tips!

Don’t wait to be “inspired.”

We’ve said this a hundred times so this will make it one hundred and one: write every day! No other piece of writing advice is so universal, so common to successful writers everywhere. You’ve worked other jobs before, right? And did you ever experience “waiter’s block?” “Carpenter’s block?” “Accountant’s block?”

To some extent, you have to treat your writing like any other job that you’re expected to do. Some days you’ll be more “in the zone” than others, but you should always show up, ready to do the work. One of the best things about writing is the ability to rewrite! If you wait for the muse to pull you by the ear to your desk, you could find yourself waiting a long time.

Set a schedule for yourself.

This is tied closely to the last tip above. Again, at that other job you had, you probably had a schedule, right? Well, have one for your writing too! One of the benefits of a writing career is the ability to set your own schedule, not necessarily to not have a schedule at all. Treat your writing time as a sacred block of time, and protect it.

Singer/songwriter Billy Joel once commented on all the songs that he never would have written if he hadn’t shown up at the piano with nothing particular in mind, but ready to do the work. Treat your writing the same way: show up, ready to do the work.

Read!

When you’re not writing, make sure you set aside time for reading! Read your chosen genre and outside it, fiction and nonfiction, prose and poetry. Not only will it make you a better writer, it can also plant the seed for your next story.

And don’t forget newspapers and magazines either, online print. Newspapers and magazines present situations and events; create characters, place them in those events, and ta-da! You have a story!

– WBP –

WestBow Press authors who’d like to share a 350-600 word experience related to the self-publishing of their books are invited to do so through the Blog Guidelines Page. WestBow Press reserves the right to edit stories for content, grammar, punctuation, and length

Inspiration for My Book

As a Christian neurosurgeon, I first read Dr. Barbet’s book A Doctor at Calvary early on in my career. In this seminal book, Dr. Barbet proposed the theory that Jesus died from asphyxiation (strangulation) based on observations during World War One that prisoners hung by their arms tied over their head, with no foot support, could not exhale. Dr. Barbet felt that when Jesus’ arms were nailed to the crossbeam, and then the crossbeam was lifted on the shaft, his body sagged (dropped down). He proposed that in this position Jesus was unable to exhale, leading to asphyxiation. Even Dr. Barbet’s partner, Dr. P. J. Smith commented in Appendix II of this book, “This theory is not supported by some of the evidence set out in the book”. However despite the lack of scientific evidence, the theory that Jesus died from asphyxiation has been taught for seventy years.

Past Research

In 1986 there was an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association from the Mayo Clinic about the crucifixion of Jesus. This created quite a stir, as many felt it was inappropriate to have a discussion of the death of Jesus in a medical journal. Since I had part of my training at the Mayo Clinic, this article prompted my interest in the study of the crucifixion of Jesus. I read many books.

Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a forensic pathologist, in his book The Crucifixion of Jesus, a forensic inquiry, carried out experiments with young human volunteers and showed that as long as the feet are stabilized there is no difficulty in breathing in the sagging position. He did not go into great detail as to what was the cause of Jesus’s death. The majority of his book discusses the evidence for the Shroud of Turin. This stirred my interest as to what was the main factor in Jesus dying so soon from his crucifixion.

What the Witnesses Saw

To answer this question, I turned to the Bible. The New Testament is replete with many quotations that say Jesus died “by the loss, or shedding, of his blood.” The only writer that was at the cross during Jesus’s crucifixion was John. However, the other writers must have known and talked to witnesses to the crucifixion, or talk to someone who knew someone who knew the witnesses. Since the eyewitnesses to Jesus’s dying said that he lost a lot of blood, the question came up, then where did this blood loss come from.

In my book, I reviewed the events as they unfolded during the passion of Jesus Christ. I present a new theory as to where this blood loss came from that led to such an early death. My book has been reviewed by many physicians who agree with my conclusion. How wondrous it is to realize that on Good Friday afternoon, as the high priests were slaughtering the lambs as an animal sacrifice, Jesus bled to death for our sins, as our sacrifice for the new Passover.

– WBP –

WestBow Press authors who’d like to share a 350-600 word experience related to the self-publishing of their books are invited to do so through the Blog Guidelines Page. WestBow Press reserves the right to edit stories for content, grammar, punctuation, and length